18 Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic on Commission operations Impact on organisational performance During the periods of lockdown restrictions, service delivery was impacted where inperson meetings, mediations and community gatherings could not occur. With the restrictions on international and domestic travel, the Commission has relied on video conferencing platforms to engage with the public. Travel and border restrictions have also likely dissuaded staff from using their annual leave. All staff have mobile devices that allow remote connection to the Commission’s cloud-based systems. This allowed for a seamless transition from office-based to remote-based working. Staff were provided with additional leave allowances in support of their personal circumstances and whānau responsibilities, to prepare and respond to the pandemic, however there was minimal uptake. Staff are encouraged to engage with external services to support and maintain their health and wellbeing. This service protects the confidentiality and privacy of the individual. The Commission continued with its annual performance objectives during the COVID-19 pandemic. A work programme was established to recognise and acknowledge COVID-19 as a human rights emergency and to coordinate 58 Human Rights Commission Annual Report 2019/20 our response. While this programme received resourcing reassigned from existing work programmes, the outcomes expected remain aligned to the Commission’s existing objectives. Impact on the financial statements There are no significant assumptions, estimates, or financial balances that require an assessment of impairment. There are no significant outlays of cash to invest in a response to this pandemic. In addition to the variance disclosures in Note 17, operational expenditure, in the form of mobile data, cleaning services and safety equipment usage, have increased in line with our response. Savings from restrictions on domestic and international travel were interchanged with higher use of video conferencing applications. Furthermore, because staff have not taken their annual leave, this has resulted in a higher leave liability, at year end. It should be noted that salary increase restrictions were applied from July 2020, affecting the Commissioners and the Director of Human Rights Proceedings. Further to this, it was decided that staff earning over $100,000 salary would not get a salary increase for the next financial period.